January 18, 2007

Manfred Reyes Villa is Becoming a Thorn on Evo's Foot

The outspoken Cochabamba Prefect (Governor), Manfred Reyes Villa, has become a real thorn on Morales' foot. In the last weeks, Reyes Villa has spoken against the government unleashing a wave of protests which ended with the death of two people. Reyes Villa, who for a while was aligned with MAS, sharply criticized the government's attempts to remove the democratically elected Prefects from office by inciting its supporters to rise and "fight" for their "revolution". In response, he said he would call for a referendum to remove not only the Prefects, but also the President.

These words agitated the President, his government and through them, MAS supporters. Particularly upset were the Coca Growers' Union (Morales' own organization). These people staged a take over of grounds surrounding the state government building. The aim was to stay there until Reyes Villa resigned from office. The demonstrations turned violent to the point where part of the state government building was burned by these people.

In response, the city's civic organizations called to a demonstration for peace and in support of the Prefect. This demonstration was going to take place in the same square the other demonstrators held their meeting. The event organized by the civic organizations could not take place because the MAS supporters did not let the square free. This brought them into a brief confrontation which was defused by the police. However, the civic organizations promised to come back the next day and do something about it.

The next day, as reported by the media and I wrote in previous posts, was a day of violence and death. Reportedly, the MAS supporter died from a bullet shot by a supporter of the civic organizations. And, contrary to what the media reported, the so called civic supporter who died beaten up, was not taking part of the demonstration or the conflict. He was visiting someone in a hospital close where he died. Apparently, he went outside to smoke and see what was going on.

Currently, things have calmed down and the two groups have backed down. However, it seems like Reyes Villa is not done yet. After forcing the government to accept his legitimacy as an elected official, and the government going so far as to guaranteeing his safety to return to his office, he has started to speak again. He has said he will ask international organizations, like the OAS and the EU to come to Bolivia to evaluate the state of the democratic process. Additionally, he still wants to force the government to submit itself, as well as all the Prefectural offices, to a revocatory referendum, which would put the legitimacy of these offices in question. Reyes Villa commented, to the government's proposal to carry out such referendum, but excluding those offices who won with more that 50% of the vote, that the President was searching for excuses not to submit himself to such a vote because he knew he would lose. Reyes Villa argued that the government lost much support due to its efforts to consolidate power by inciting to violence.

Cochabamba, Bolivia’s third largest city, has become the focus of the growing battle between supporters of left wing president Evo Morales and right wing governors who are demanding autonomy for key oil and gas producing regions.

Source: Reuters LA PAZ, Jan 15 (Reuters) - The governor of Cochabamba in central Bolivia said on Monday he will stop pressing for a referendum on regional autonomy, the issue that sparked deadly street clashes last ...

COCHABAMBA, Bolivia (Reuters) - At least 20,000 coca farmers allied with Bolivian President Evo Morales vowed on Friday to keep up protests against a provincial governor, a day after two people were killed in street battles.

Demonstrators loyal to President Evo Morales continued their weeklong vigil in this central Bolivian city on Sunday, calling for the opposition-aligned state governor to resign for backing a movement to give the country's nine states greater autonomy.